All the things in between
by Anemonenfisch
Summary: The first time they see each other again, after Conan died and Shinichi returned to his life again, he tries to talk KID out of stealing. It goes as you would expect. Badly. But they need to heal, to move on. Becaus they've won, haven't they? (aka: a comfort fic that involves very much talking and feelings. Because nobody is fine.)


A.N.: Hi there, you beautiful people on the internet! Please, while reading this fic, bear in mind that I'm not a native speaker, nothing really belongs to me and to be honest, there are million fics on this Website that are better than this. If you have something to criticise or just really badly need to talk about cat Pictures or anything, the comment section is all yours.

Enjoy~

Have a beautiful day, Anemonenfisch

* * *

Shinichi knows that this heist is different. It's a feeling in his guts. He's sure that the whole KID brigade feels it. But it's easy to fall back into familiar patterns. Even with the uneasy feeling nestled in the back of his mind, Shinichi still enjoys this.

That's maybe the worst of it all. Shinichi hates himself a little bit for this. But on the other hand, he hates himself a lot lately. It's just piling up if you decide to stop lying and try to go back to your old life. Pressure is put on the trying part.

Ran still doesn't talk to him further than polite small talk and Sonoko probably planned his murder and already found a place where to dispose his body. But he couldn't be Conan any longer. Even if, in retrospective, it was a way better life than he has now.

So he stands in the overcrowded exhibition hall, trying not to be overrun by some eager police officer. He's not distracting himself with cases and heists and coffee and trying to somehow find back into the education system of Japan. He is not. He's just busy, as he always is. Too busy to answer questions from worried police forces or call his parents.

Nobody knows him here. People regard him with wary eyes. He had been here. He had a life, had connections. But they are gone. For the better. He's fine.

But it still bothers him, that there's a heist.

There shouldn't be one. That's the thing. They are done. Finished. Veni, vidi, vici.

Hakuba Saguru observes him across the room, arms crossed in front of his chest. Shinichi tries not to be intruding, he stays out of any preparations, only gives advice if asked and mostly is busy trying to blend into the wall. Everything is loud and suffocating and there are so many people.

He really shouldn't be here at all, this is a territory that had been contaminated by Conan. But after seeing the announcement in the newspaper he couldn't stay away. It bothers him.

It bothers him as he observes the room when the light goes out. It bothers him as something wet lands on his shoulder and his eardrums are almost blown by a confetti explosion that goes off.

"KID", he says as he confronts the phantom thief on the roof. The thief turns around, a bow as a mocking greeting.

"Tantei-kun", he greets him. "Wait, I should re-name you, shouldn't I? Sadly, most nicknames are already taken, you're going to need to wait a bit until I come up with something new!"

He's carefree, arrogant and mocking everyone around him - as always.

"Why are you still stealing?", Shinichi lingers near the door, not making any move towards the thief. This thing between them is fragile? unstable? has the potential to just get blown away by the wind?

The poker face of the thief doesn't twitch. He still regards the detective with a wide grin but Shinichi feels sick seeing it.

"You found what you've been looking for", he starts. "Why are you still doing this?" Don't you have something to return to?, this part goes unspoken but the hardening of the thief's eyes indicate that he just understood Shinichi perfectly.

The curves of his smile get a bit sharper and his eyes a bit duller.

"I don't think you are in the right position to judge me my dear detective", KID is still smiling. It gives him the aura of an insane person. It's on purpose, he wants to throw Shinichi off balance. But the detective has faced criminals with far lax interpretations of good and what's necessary to reach your goals.

"You have what you wanted", repeats Shinichi again. The smile does make him feel a bit uncomfortable. It's a far cry from the actual smile that KID sometimes grazed him with during their chases. That he grazed Conan with.

But that is not the point. The point is, that months ago there had been a heist. And there had been a diamond that never returned to its owner. Shinichi had seen it, held against the bright light of the moon and something ancient inside him, something at in older times warned his ancestors to not poke the sabre-tooth cat, had screamed at him to run. Sometimes the colour manages to slip into his dreams, the dark red, glowing against the with of KID's glove.

"Maybe I lied?", snaps KID. "I'm a thief, or did you forgot this? I lie. I manipulate. Maybe I don't have what I want! You certainly don't know, or do you?"

The possibility of KID lying to him is a bait that Shinichi won't fall for. He won't. Still, the mere thought of it stirs something deeply hidden in his brain. KID did not lie to him!

"Stop stealing", he repeats. He feels like a broken record by that time. Always repeating, always trying. Saying sorry. Trying to explain. Trying to justify. Trying to do things in order to be better! hetrieshetrieshetries but sometimes it feels like he shouldn't.

KID laughs, a sharp and the most joyless sound Shinichi ever heard.

And then he jumps off the roof.

Before Shinichi can stop himself, he's rushing towards the edge of the building. There's the stupid, anxious thought that maybe KID did not open his glider or that a sniper got him. There are still things left unsettled but he couldn't bear being a child anymore. Nobody understands this. Haibara called him reckless. Heiji only really knew Conan. They don't really know what to do with this grown-up person that doesn't really fit his old persona.

Luckily he can make out KID in the distance, glider spread out, a white spot against the dark night sky. It's stupid to even think that KID would do something like this.

Shinichi feels like he failed. Again. He seemingly doesn't do much else lately.


End file.
